What Comes Next
by britchick
Summary: The sequel to Accidental. Madison is home from the hospital, but has anything changed? How's parenthood treating them? Just read the story!
1. Chapter One

A/N: So here's the first part of the sequel to Accidental. I want to thank everyone who reviewed and left me such positive feedback and constructive criticism. As you might have seen, that was the first fanfic I've posted in over 3 years.  
  
I don't own it, you know that, I know that. Although I have stood on the same spot in Plesant Grove, Utah where they filmed a scene with Greg in it. I saw the episode with it in last week and I got so excited I almost fell off the couch.  
  
Anyway, here goes nothing.  
  
Chapter One  
  
**Ephram POV**  
  
I almost laughed when I pushed open the door. What I saw was so familiar, I almost though I was back in last year. Madison and Delia were sitting on the couch watching TV. But if it were last year there would have been some differences. We would have been at Dad's house, and there wouldn't have been a baby monitor on the coffee table.  
  
I ditched my backpack and headed over to the couch. Delia looked up at me.  
  
"Hey, Deels. How's it going?" I sat down next to her.  
  
"Madison and I are gonna go make cookies in a minute. Dad brought me over so I could see Mac, but she's asleep."  
  
I wanted to shake Delia as soon as she said it. And sure enough, we'd been jinxed. A loud wail sounded through the baby monitor. Madison started to push herself up from the couch, but she looked a little pale and shaky.  
  
"I'll get it," I said.  
  
"No. Let me. You seem to do everything around here at the moment. I haven't been up in the night once since I've been home."  
  
"Madison, you've only been home a week. C'mon, you stay here and watch TV. I'll go check on Mackenzie. I haven't seen her all day."  
  
"Fine. Far be it for me to prevent you dealing with a cranky 10 week old."  
  
I headed downstairs to the basement, which held what was almost a mini- apartment, with a bathroom, a common area with a microwave and a refrigerator, mine and Madison's bedrooms and the nursery. This was Grandpa's way of making sure he still got enough sleep. Mackenzie was still screaming in her crib, but she calmed down a little when I picked her up.  
  
"Hey, Mac. You're cranky, huh?" I could easily tell why, I could smell her diaper across the room. "Let's get you changed. You'll feel better then." In the two month's she'd been home, I'd become a pro at the fast diaper change. I hardly ever gagged at the smell any more.  
  
Once Mac was clean and dry, I changed her into another one of the million and one outfits she had, after Madison's parents had gone a little insane at Christmas. I checked the time and saw that she was due for a feed. I heated a bottle in the microwave but then I started to feel a little bad for Madison.  
  
She'd had to stay in hospital for more than two months and she'd already missed so much with Mac. She was still to sick to do much but sit and read or watch television, and even that left her so tired she couldn't get up to take care of Mac in the night.  
  
I grabbed the bottle, and headed back upstairs where Madison and Delia were now in the kitchen. Madison was sitting at the table while Delia was arranging cookie dough on a tray.  
  
"She's hungry. I thought you might want to feed her." I handed Mac over to her mom and let Madison get comfortable before I handed the bottle to her.  
  
**Madison POV**  
  
Ephram handed me the bottle and I got Mackenzie to feed pretty easily. She was turning out to a pretty happy baby, and not all that fussy. I guess though, because I was only handling the day shift, I didn't have the 3am frustration when she wouldn't go back to sleep. It wasn't that I didn't want to do everything though, I just couldn't yet. That was the most frustrating part. Then somewhere along the way, Ephram became Superdad, and I wasn't needed.  
  
Mackenzie was only about halfway through her bottle, but I could tell she was starting to fall asleep again. I tried to nudge her back into eating by stroking her cheek, but Mac just pushed my fingers away with her little hands. I really wanted her to finish the feed, so I tried again, but this time she just started to cry. I tried to calm her down a little, but she just kept crying.  
  
I set the bottle down, and put her up to my shoulder. "Hey, c'mon. It's ok, baby. Shh, now." I tried to bounce her a little, like I'd seen Ephram do, but it didn't work. Mackenzie didn't calm down; she just vomited what she'd just eaten on to my sweater.  
  
Delia noticed instantly what had happened. "Ew. Ephram," she yelled. "Mac just threw up on Madison."  
  
Ephram instantly appeared in the kitchen, and held out his arms. "You go clean up, Madison. I'll take Mac."  
  
"I'm fine," I snapped at him. "Just hand me a towel." I switched Mac about in my arms and managed to get my sweater off one handed leaving me in just the tank top I had on underneath. "She just needs to take the rest of the bottle."  
  
"It's ok. I don't mind."  
  
"I'm fine Ephram. Just put my sweater in the laundry." I switched my attention to my daughter, who was just starting to calm down. "It's ok, baby. Mommy's here." I managed to get her settled and she was just finishing the bottle when the oven alarm rang, telling us Delia's cookies were done.  
  
Ephram, who was sitting opposite me at the kitchen table looked up from his homework. "You help Delia with this. I'll go take Mac downstairs and do some homework. She should stay pretty quiet." Then without waiting for my reply he took her from me, and walked out the room.  
  
I didn't have a choice, so I just helped Delia. At least, I told myself, with Delia I knew what I was doing. It just felt more and more obvious that I couldn't handle Mackenzie. I really was trying, but everything I did seemed to be wrong. I couldn't even feed her without Ephram's help. I was supposed to be the adult, the one who could handle all of this. Instead, my 17-year-old ex-boyfriend seemed to be 20 times the parent I was.  
  
Then, 20 minutes later, just as the cookies were cooling, to make things even better, Amy arrived. Ephram had heard the doorbell, so he was instantly there. To improve my mood just a little bit more, Ephram handed Mac over to Amy, and Mac seemed thrilled with it. She was too small to smile or anything, but she curled up into Amy's chest. Something she'd never done with me.  
  
There was this perfect little family unit sitting on the couch, and I wasn't part of it. When Ephram leaned over to kiss Amy, I just grabbed a couple of cookies and headed downstairs to my room. I didn't want to watch this.  
  
**Amy POV  
**  
Ephram opened the door to me with Mackenzie in his arms. He smiled that kind of crooked smile of his and kissed me on the cheek. He offered Mackenzie to me and I held out my arms to take her. She instantly curled herself into my body, and stared at me. I was a little freaked out at first, but Ephram just smiled at me again.  
  
We sat down on the couch and Ephram leaned in to kiss me properly. As he pulled away I saw Madison heading down stairs. I was about to say hi, but she pulled the door to the basement shut behind her.  
  
Since she'd been here, I'd kind of got the feeling that all Madison wanted to do was avoid me. I guess in a way that was understandable. I was Ephram's girlfriend now, and it was a little awkward. I mean, I didn't exactly have a burning desire to be her new best friend or anything, I just wanted to be able to say hi to her.  
  
Mackenzie was starting to squirm around in my arms a little. I looked at Ephram questioning; he just rolled his eyes at me.  
  
"I'll take her." I handed her back to Ephram and he leaned back so he was almost lying on the couch. He laid Mackenzie on his chest. They looked so cute together.  
  
"So I was thinking... I mean if you can..." I stopped and started again. "It's our 8 month anniversary this weekend. I wanted to know if you want to do something. I was thinking we could go to Denver for the day. Just, I don't know, look around or shop or something. Then go out for dinner in the evening." I pushed myself up to look at him properly. "We can even stay the night if you want." I did my best to smile alluringly. "My mom's cousin has a house in Denver. She said I can use it if I want."  
  
Ephram didn't really react. I thought I saw a flicker of something in his eyes, but maybe I imagined it. He pushed himself back into a sitting position with one hand, holding onto the baby with the other. "Uhh, I'm not sure. I mean I want to spend the day with you." He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "It's just, maybe we could stay closer to home, you know? I can't stay the night; I have Mac to look after."  
  
I rolled my eyes. I didn't mean to, but it just happened. "It's just one night. And Madison's home now. I'm sure she wouldn't mind handling one night on her own. I mean, you've been doing it for 2 months on your own."  
  
"I can't Amy." Ephram got up from the couch. "Madison's still sick. She can't handle it on her own. She needs the sleep."  
  
"Ephram, she's ok. They let her out of hospital a week ago. They wouldn't have done that if she wasn't."  
  
"I can't." Ephram looked down at Mackenzie, avoiding my gaze.  
  
"Fine, whatever, I get it. I'll think of something to do here." Ephram was still looking down at his daughter. "Hey, look at me Ephram. I don't want to fight with you over this. I'm just going to go home." I got up from the couch and kissed him on the cheek. I started to walk to the door.  
  
"Amy," he called. I turned to look at him. "I'm sorry. I know this isn't exactly easy for you. I just don't know what else to do."  
  
I half-smiled back at him and left. He was right. It wasn't exactly easy for me. I guess it was harder for him though. I just felt, I don't know, that I was becoming less and less important. I know that sounds incredibly selfish, but I really couldn't help how I felt.  
  
**Ephram POV  
**  
I tried to be mad at Amy for what she said, but I couldn't. I guess I just felt to guilty. Eight months that weekend meant I'd been with Amy twice as long as I'd been with Madison. It also meant I was a total asshole. It had been two months since I realized I was still in love with Madison, and nothing had changed. I was still with Amy and to be totally honest I was glad. Does that make me a horrible person?  
  
It was never that I didn't have feelings for Amy. God knows, I was kind of obsessed with her for long enough. Then came Madison and a broken heart, and then I got the chance to finally be with Amy. I don't think I ever really got over Madison. I just tried to forget her and let Amy back in, and it worked. I felt human and happy, which for me is kind of a rare thing.  
  
Then after Mac was born things just got so complicated again. I couldn't pretend Madison never existed anymore. I had living, breathing proof of how I had felt about her. And then I figured out I still had all of those feelings. As well as all my feelings for Amy. I wrote all these letters to Madison while she was in hospital, and they kind of helped me sort out my feelings about things. Then I realized that even though all I wanted was to have Madison back, I knew it could never happen. So I burned the letters I wrote and just tried to be happy with what I had.  
  
She ended up in hospital for a month longer than they thought because she got some kind of heart infection. She was doing so much better, but then she was right back in critical condition. The doctors thought she might go into heart failure. I couldn't face the thought of loosing her, and seeing her like that just hurt so much. I just knew how much I loved her.  
  
But then while all this was happening, Amy was an angel. She understood how hard all of this was for me. She drove me up and back to Boulder to the hospital, and she even looked after Mac while I sat in the ICU. And I realized that I loved Amy too. A different kind of love, maybe, but love all the same.  
  
"I guess Daddy's screwed, huh?" I whispered to Mac.

A/N: Mwahahaha. So Ephram burned the letters he wrote. Bet you didn't see that coming.


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter one, but keep doing it ok! I don't want to have to get mean. And don't worry, I'm a diehard M/E shipper, (Amy drives me nuts) I just like angst way too much to get them together yet.

Just to clarify, because I'm not sure how clear it was in Accidental, but Madison's car was hit and she had head and chest injuries. She had to have heart surgery because of that. The later she got an infection in the muscle wall of her heart which almost killer her again (a myocardial infection), but this was after Accidental took place. If that wasn't clear, bits of this wouldn't make sense.

Chapter Two  
  
**Madison's POV  
**  
It was a couple of days later and Ephram was still moping around the house like a lost puppy. He'd been doing it since Monday after Amy left and it was driving me insane. His bad mood seemed to have directly transferred to Mac, and for that I wanted to kick his ass. But less than a month after that damn myocardial infection, the closest I could come was a death glare. Damn.  
  
Amy still hadn't been over to the house, though I guess Ephram must have seen her at school. He kept sitting strategically in the living room, so he was near the phone and the front door. I sat in my bedroom, and tried to teach Mac the joys of MTV. It's never too early to teach a child good taste in music, and there was no way in hell I was going to let Ephram brainwash my daughter into listening to that whiney depressing crap he listens to. Ok, so I'm not sure if the music was her thing yet, but she liked Pimp My Ride. I think all the bright colors got to her.  
  
I checked my watch, and saw it was just after six. That meant I had about an hour before I had to put Mac to bed, but I had to get dinner together before that. Nonny and Grandpa, as they insisted I call them were out for the day in Denver and wouldn't be back until late. I'd actually looked after Mac by myself all day and hadn't killed or maimed her. I was impressed with myself; maybe I wasn't such a horrible parent after all.  
  
I grabbed Mac's chair and headed up to the kitchen to cook. Of course carrying Mac up the stairs left me a little out of breath and I had to sit down and rest for about five minutes once I got to the kitchen, but it was an improvement. I checked around and decided that pasta was probably the safest option. I was pretty hungry. I put a stick of garlic bread in the oven, put a pot of water on the stove for the noodles and started to grab things from the refrigerator for a salad. All the while I talked to Mac, who was sitting in her chair on the opposite side of the kitchen, away from the stove.  
  
It was a few minutes later, when the smell of the garlic bread started to come from the oven, that Ephram appeared in the kitchen.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked me in kind of an accusing voice.  
  
"What does it look like? I'm cooking."  
  
"You're supposed to be resting. Let me do it." He held out his hands to take the knife I was using to chop tomatoes for the salad. "You can go rest or something."  
  
"Jesus, Ephram. I'm making a salad. It's not exactly difficult." I sat down in the chair next to me and carried on with what I was doing. "Look, I'm resting. Happy now?"  
  
"No. I'll do it. Give me the knife."  
  
"I don't think so. You're cooking skills are a step below your dad's." I was starting to get pissed at him now.  
  
"You're comparing me to my dad? Nice." Damn. That hadn't been what I meant to do, but by this time it was a little late. "Way to twist the knife Madison, comparing me to the one person I really hate."  
  
"You are such a drama queen! God, I'm just making dinner. Someone has to do it. It's not like I'm running a marathon!"  
  
"You almost died. Twice. You have to take it easy." Ephram walked over to the stove and stood there with his back to me. "They told me you could die, Madison. They told me you might need a heart transplant. And you think I'm a drama queen because I want to make sure that doesn't happen."  
  
"You think I don't know that? You think I don't have this little voice in the back of my head telling me that even the flu could put me in heart failure?" I was so mad at him for bringing all of this up. I was happy living in my little denial bubble. "I'm sitting chopping lettuce, tomatoes, maybe some bell peppers for a salad. It's not going to kill me. It's gotta be better for my heart than the pizzas or Chinese you usually order."  
  
"Whatever. You know, do what you want. It's not like have a right to care anyway. I'll just take Mac and go do some homework." He started to walk over to our daughter.  
  
I stopped him. "Leave her. She's fine."  
  
"Ok, fine. Assert your independence as a single parent. It's not like I can help anyway. I mean I didn't do it all myself for two months."  
  
"Jesus, Ephram, just shut up." This was turning into an argument on a level with some of Ephram and Dr Brown's that I had seen. "You don't get it, do you? You still insist on doing it all yourself. I mean I know I'm not the world's number one mother, but it's like I have to fight you to take care of my daughter."  
  
"Your daughter. Fine. I guess that's what you wanted all along. I guess you should have remembered to take my number out of your wallet."  
  
"You know that's not what I meant. Give it up Ephram. Stop acting like someone shot your puppy. You've been acting like an ass since you argued with your precious Amy, so stop taking it out on me."  
  
"I didn't have an argument with Amy."  
  
"Yeah. Which is why you've been pissed since she came over on Monday, and why I haven't had to watch you make out since." By this time I wasn't even thinking about what I was yelling. I was just going for volume and sending him my best death stare.  
  
"If I didn't know better I'd think you were acting like a bitchy jealous ex-girlfriend."  
  
"Like that would ever happen." I answered entirely too quickly.  
  
**Ephram's POV**  
  
"I mean, God, were you even there when we broke up?" She continued.  
  
"You mean when you broke my heart into several pieces? I think I remember." I didn't mean to start with the sarcasm, but I could just feel my mouth running away from me.  
  
"God, you just can't stop acting like a petulant child can you?"  
  
"You know what. I think I'm just going to take my petulant self away. Have fun cooking. If Mac needs me I'll be in the den."  
  
I stormed out of the kitchen. Even when I was so angry with Madison it hurt, I still told her exactly where I was going in case she needed me. It was like a damn reflex. Not that she would have had to look far for me.  
  
I stormed into the den and slammed the door behind me. I looked towards the TV and Playstation, but decided on the piano. I started hammering out these minor chords. I didn't have a clue what I was playing, but it was cathartic. It took me a while to actually calm down enough to play an actual piece. I chose a Clementi Sonata for some reason. Probably because it was the first piece of music I pulled out. For love, heartbreak, passion, jazz was preferable, but for anger it had to be classical music.  
  
I don't know how long I played for, but I just kept working on bits, and trying to put the piece together for what must have been hours. Eventually she door swung open, and in stormed Madison.  
  
"Could you possibly shut up?" she half hissed at me. "I've been trying to get Mackenzie to sleep for an hour, but there is no way she's going down with you hammering away on that thing."  
  
I glared at her, but I moved from the piano to the couch in front of the TV.  
  
Madison left and I turned on the Playstation and resumed a shockingly graphic, but incredible satisfying game, where I proceeded to shoot people for a while. But eventually I got bored and realised I was hungry. I headed to the kitchen where I found a plate of food on the counter with a note next to it.  
  
"Eat it, not, whatever."  
  
If I hadn't still been in such a godawful mood, the note probably would have made me laugh.  
  
I nuked the food, ate it and decided that I should probably try and get some sleep. But when I headed down to my room I could hear Mac crying softly in the nursery. I started to head towards her, but then remembered Madison yelling at me for not letting her do things.  
  
"She wants to do it? Fine with me," I muttered to myself as I headed into my room.  
  
It was maybe five minutes later when I came back out to go brush my teeth. Mac was still crying, but louder now. I couldn't just leave her there so I headed in to see what was wrong. Her diaper was wet so I changed it and calmed Mac down. She fell back asleep pretty quickly, so I decided to go yell at Madison for ignoring Mac.  
  
The door to Madison's room was open slightly and the light was still on. But as I walked in I saw that Madison was fast asleep. She was laying in her side, naked on top of the covers. Her blonde hair falling over her face. It wasn't like I hadn't seen it all before, but still as a 17 year old boy, looking at a naked woman who was this beautiful should have made me feel something. All I felt was shock, because for the first time I saw the angry pink scar running down the centre on her chest. This was proof of how fragile she still was that I really didn't want to see.  
  
I knew the argument we'd had was my fault for being so overprotective, and I knew it was stupid. I just couldn't help it. The thought of loosing her was still too painful to contemplate, and the fear was still too raw. She lay there looking so peaceful, but so vulnurable. I loved her even more.  
  
I stood there for a few minutes just looking at her. I wanted her in such an elemental way, like she was a part of me that was missing. I thought about covering her up, but then she'd know I'd been there. Then she'd just yell at me again for being an immature pervert. So I just left and went to bed.  
  
I dreamed about Madison that night, in the snatches of sleep I got between looking after Mac. I got up pretty late and just rushed to school, not even saying good morning to Mackenzie. It was only in my first class of the day when I saw her that I realised I hadn't even thought about Amy. Madison was always in the back of my mind, right there with Mac. Amy could be chased from my thoughts easily. I knew what I had to do. But as always, I'm just a fucking chicken.


	3. Chapter Three

A/N: I don't own it. You know that and so do I.

Chapter Three

**Madison POV**

I didn't feel too good the next morning. My whole body ached, and I barely had the energy to get up the stairs. Mac was still asleep, and Ephram had already left for school. So I just took the baby monitor upstairs with me, and joined Nonny and Grandpa in the kitchen.

"Madison, honey. You look terrible. Are you ok?" Nonny came and put her hand on my forehead to check for a fever.

My ego pouted at this. I mean, I knew I felt horrible, but I didn't want other people to tell me that.

"I'm fine. I didn't sleep too well last night, that's all."

"Why don't you go back to bed for a couple of hours. I can handle Mackenzie for a few hours. It's no trouble."

"I'm fine. I can handle it."

"You don't have to handle it. That's why we're here too. But if you say you're fine that's ok. I'll be in all day if you need anything."

"Thanks, Nonny." She smiled at me and handed me some coffee. I sat at the table and drank it, thinking about the fight I'd had with Ephram the previous day. It all seemed kind of pointless now. So I just sat until a cry came from the baby monitor sent me downstairs to Mac.

The day actually went kind of fast. Mac slept a lot, and I watched some TV and read a little. Even so, by about 2 in the afternoon I was so tired that I had to take Nonny up on her offer. I left Mackenzie with her until Ephram got home and went and collapsed into bed for a while. At least this time I got under the covers. The night before I'd just stripped off and collapsed.

I guess I must have slept for a couple of hours, because I felt a lot better when I woke up. I didn't ache so much and for once even the scar on my chest didn't hurt when I sat up. I ran my fingers through my hair to try and bring it back into some kind of order, and decided to go look for Mac.

When I checked my watch I saw it was a little after 4.30, so I guessed Ephram would have Mackenzie either in his room or in the den. I didn't have to look far though, because the door to Ephram's room was open. I looked inside and sure enough there they both were.

I stood by the door, really quiet, just watching for a couple of minutes. Mac was sitting in her bouncy chair, not really crying, but making random noises of displeasure. I recognized it immediately as her "gimmie some attention, dammit" cry. Ephram meanwhile was sitting at his desk, bouncing Mac with his foot and desperately trying to do his homework.

He turned around to look at Mackenzie when she let out a particularly loud cry.

"C'mon Mac, please? I have to get this finished. You don't want Daddy to flunk out of High School, do you? Then the other kids will laugh at you and make fun because your Dad's too unqualified to get any job that doesn't involve grilling frozen cow parts."

I struggled not to laugh at Ephram's neurotic desperation.

"Ok, Mac," he continued. "I'll make a deal with you. If you give me a half-hour to finish my algebra homework, I'll leave the rest and you can have me till bed, ok?"

I stepped into the room. "Isn't she a little young for deals?"

"Probably. It was worth a shot though, I'm getting a little desperate." Ephram looked at me kind of oddly, like he was a little scared of what I was going to say. Probably remembering our fight. "You feeling better? Nonny said you looked like crap this morning."

"I guess. I didn't sleep too well last night. Funny, huh?"

"Me neither." He stopped and looked at me. "I am sorry, you know? I know I'm acting like an ass. I wasn't mad with you yesterday. I was.. You were right. I was mad with Amy. And I know I'm being overprotective its just..."

I interrupted him. "No, it's me. I've been in this denial thing. I guess it's like if I don't think about it, it never happened.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not so sick I can't chop a tomato." Ephram smiled slightly. "But I guess I have to be careful, right?"

I went over and picked Mac up out of her chair, and then I took a seat on Ephram's bed. He turned around to look at me.

"I don't...It's just..." Ephram stopped and took an audible breath. "I don't know how to act around you, ok? I mean, we were never friends..."

"We were friends."

"No, we weren't. I hated you, then I had feelings for you, then we were together. We were never just friends. Then we broke up, and then you left."

"I didn't want to leave. You know that right? I just didn't want to ruin your life."

"I know, I know. And you didn't ruin my life, we're doing ok. It's just, now we live together, and I still don't know where I stand with you. It feels like we have to take turns with Mac, like we trade her between us. We never spend time together with her. Which is dumb, because your bedroom is right next to mine. It's like... God, I don't even know what I'm saying."

"I do. It's like, you're her Dad, and I'm her Mom, but we're not her parents, collectively. We haven't figured out the us part yet."

"Exactly, and I don't want that. My parents were never an us either. It was Mom on her own until she died, and then Dad took over. I want Mac to know both of us."

"She will. I guess we just need to figure out how to be a family, right. Even if it is kind of odd and dysfunctional."

Ephram laughed. "C'mon Madison, you spent way too much time at my dad's house. You know I'd never survive in a functional family."

Then he came and sat down next to me. We didn't talk any more, we just kind of sat. At first it was a little awkward, but after a while it got easier. It was just the three of us, alone together for once, and it felt good.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

**Ephram's POV**

After that day, everything got a lot easier. Madison and I kind of realized that we had to be friends, and even though it was really weird at first, I got used to it. I couldn't help how I felt, but I decided that being friends was more important. And I didn't want to break up with Amy, she meant too much to me and I didn't want to loose her. I felt like such an asshole. I seem to use that word a lot when I describe myself in relation to Amy.

Anyway, January finished, and I found myself at the start of February and two weeks from Valentine's Day. Great, Just what I needed, a holiday dedicated to love and romance shared with a girl I only loved as a friend. While I lived with the woman I was crazy about, but could only be friends with, because I was too damn scared. It wasn't like I could talk to anyone about all of this either. Bright and I didn't talk much anymore, and he was Amy's brother. My dad and I had limited our conversation to a "hi" when he came to drop off Delia here or pick her up, so I couldn't talk to him. Not that I would have anyway. My only friend for the moment seemed to be Mac, and at 3 months old, I don't think her advice would be great. Besides, she had a built in bias. I'm sure she'd want her Mom and Dad together.

I didn't think it could get any worse, but as usual I was spectacularly wrong. Of course it could get worse. This is me we're talking about.

I had planned to spend Saturday in Denver on my own. Ok, so my excuse was that I had to buy Amy a Valentine's gift, but I actually wanted some time to myself. I didn't want to avoid Madison or Mac, but Amy had developed this ultra-annoying habit of just kind of appearing on the weekends. She's just hand around with me, and maybe watch movies. It wasn't that I didn't want to spend time with her, because I did. But I didn't have time to. I had to go to sleep so early every night, just to cope with being woken up at least three times a night, that I tried to get as much homework done on the weekends. With Amy there, that couldn't happen. I tried to explain all of this to her, but she didn't get it.

So that Saturday was supposed to be kind of an escape, but as usual it didn't exactly go as planned. I got up at 5.30 because that's what Mac wanted and she refused to go back to sleep. I decided to go get breakfast, because then I could get ready to go as soon as someone else got up. I was sitting eating my frosted flakes when Madison got up. It was way earlier than normal, but I don't think I was awake enough to notice.

"Healthy breakfast." She poured herself some coffee, and took a seat opposite me.

"I guess so," I mumbled. But as I was only on my first cup of coffee it probably sounded more like: "megueppsu." I'm not exactly a morning person.

Madison just laughed at me. I scowled back at her and drank more coffee.

It took me a while to wake up, but when I did, I wished I were still asleep. Madison looked beautiful. More than beautiful, amazing. It was way too early for all the lust that was suddenly running through me. She was wearing the same pajama pants and tank top I'd seen her in every morning for a week, but dammit, it was affecting me way more this morning. Her blond hair was messed up in a kind of adorable bedhead. She wasn't pale anymore, and the dark circles were gone from under her eyes. For the first time since she got out of hospital, she just looked, healthy, I guess.

This was a good thing, I told myself. A very good thing. It just didn't help that I was a typical hormone filled teenage guy. I just sat there and stared into my coffee cup, not looking at her. Mac, who was sitting in her chair in the corner, gurgled at us. I think if she were old enough to properly laugh, she'd have laughed her ass off at her pathetic father.

"So, what are we doing today then?" Madison sounded way to happy for, I checked the clock on the stove, 6.37 am.

"We?"

"Yes. I heard and Amy last night. I think the whole block did. I know you're going to Denver today. I want to come too."

Did I mention the fact that I didn't want to spend the day with Amy, even if it was to buy her gift, hadn't gone down too well.

"You want to come to Denver?" This was unexpected. Shopping for your girlfriend's valentine's gift with the woman you love. Dammit, this was too complicated for me without way more caffeine. So I got up and poured myself more coffee.

"That's the idea. Do you know how many time's I've been out of this house this week? Once. And that was to go to the grocery store with Nonny. I can't drive for another two weeks, and it's too cold to walk anywhere. It's driving me insane!"

"You know, I didn't realize your life was so damn exciting."

"You know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, right? And no cursing in front of Mac."

"Ok, three things; one: 'damn' is not strictly cursing, two: Mac is three months old. She has no idea what we're saying. And three, even sarcasm is pretty good for jailbait like me."

"Funny guy." Madison tried to hide her smile, but failed dismally.

"Fine, if you want to come then come. I'm getting a shower. You go get Mac ready."

"You're so generous. I get all the good jobs."

I went and took a shower, but as usual, I took about five times less than Mac to get ready. I think the whole girls taking forever to get ready must be implanted from birth. So I just took over from Madison, and she went to get ready. I was just packing the diaper bag to go, when Madison reappeared. And she looked amazing. All the lust that had been slowly disappearing came running back. Dammit.

The drive to Denver was ok. I borrowed Grandpa's car, because I refused to take Mac in my hunk of junk. Mac just drifted off to sleep pretty quickly, thanks to waking up so early. Madison and I had our usual argument about what music to listen to. We finally agreed on the radio, but due to the fact that Colorado radio consists entirely of twangy country shit, and "classic rock" from before I was born, we just drove in silence. Madison fell asleep about a half –hour later.

It was still pretty early when we arrived at the mall in Denver. I hadn't planned to spend all day there, but I guess Madison hadn't been shopping since before Mac was born and she had some time to make up for. I ended up getting dragged in to pretty much every clothing store in the entire mall, and there must have been hundreds of them. I just pushed Mac's stroller and said appropriately nice things about everything Madison tried on. To tell the truth, Madison still had a tiny bit of excess baby weight to loose, but there was no was I was going to tell her that. She would have kicked my ass.

After a while I was completely bored and so was Mac. She'd been really good, but it was time for her feed, and she probably needed a diaper change. I told Madison I was leaving and headed towards the restrooms. I was lucky there was a separate baby changing room, because from experience I can tell you that men's restrooms never have the changing platform things and it's no fun having to go in the womens restroom to use one.

Once Mac was dry, I headed to the food court and sat down to feed Mac. Bright had given me this kind of thermos bottle thing that kept the formula warm all day if it needed to be. I was a pretty great Christmas gift actually, but he still refused to tell me where he got it. That was a pain in the ass because I wanted to buy some more.

I wish I'd known that a baby would turn me into some kind of teenage girl magnet. Then I probably wouldn't have been quite so shocked or embarrassed when I found myself almost surrounded by a group of them. They just kind of crowded around me and started asking questions.

"Aww, she's so cute." "How old is she?" "What's her name?"

I'd dressed her in a pink dress, so at least nobody asked if it was a boy or a girl.

"Is that your little sister or something?"

Like I was going to answer any of their questions. What was I going to say? "Uh, no that's my daughter. I was dumb enough to get my girlfriend pregnant when I was 16." I don't think so.

Through this I saw Madison standing at the edge of the group, laughing her ass off at me. Dammit. Today was not going at all as planned.

"Look Mac, there's Mommy," I finally said pointedly, loud enough that Madison could hear.

Madison came and crouched down next to me. The girls go the message and disappeared, thank God. I guess the baby isn't such a chick magnet when the mommy appears. Odd, huh?

"You almost done?" Madison asked.

"Maybe 10 minutes." Mac tended to be kind of a slow eater. Madison walked off to get a drink and came back with a soda for me. Of course I couldn't drink it while I was feeding Mac.

While I finished with Mac, Madison showed me what she'd bought. It wasn't much, a couple of t-shirts and a pair of pants, but they were nice.

We were finally done about 15 minutes later and Madison decided I had to go buy Amy's gift. And she wanted to help me. This wouldn't be awkward at all.

"So what were you going to get her?" she asked me.

Honestly, I hadn't thought about it that much. I guess I'd just planned to have a look around and choose something. That wasn't gonna happen with an ex-girlfriend and a baby there.

"Uh, maybe perfume?" It was the first thing that popped into my head.

"Nice." Ok, that was good then. "What kind?"

"Uhh?" Dammit. I hadn't thought that far in advance.

"See this is why you need my help. C'mon, follow me."

So I did, but when I saw where we were headed. She was on a direct course into Victoria's Secret. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

"Uh, I'm not going in there."

"Ephram, they do nice perfume which I guarantee Amy will like. C'mon, it's not like I'm gonna make you buy her kinky underwear."

I felt my face flush as red as the underwear in the window display. But Madison just grabbed my arm and pulled me in, pushing the stroller with one hand.

It was indescribably weird to be in that store with Madison. I don't know why, it's just a guy thing. No guy likes Victoria's Secret, well except Bright. She was right about the perfume though, and I quickly found one that I thought Amy would like. I went to pay for it, but I had to wait in line for a couple of minutes. While I was standing there I saw Madison crouched down by the stroller, pulling faces at Mac.

I paid for the gift on my dad's credit card, which I'd been allowed to keep for emergencies. I just wanted him to stroke out when he saw 'Victoria's Secret' on the bill. The assistant tried to make conversation with me while I paid.

"I guess you two have to find a babysitter for Valentine's, huh? I mean if you want to go out."

"Huh, oh, right. We're not..."

"Oh, sorry. I just assumed, I mean with the baby and everything."

"Right, the baby's ours. It's just we're not... anymore I mean." Why did I even answer the questions? I should have just smiled, nodded, and then left as soon as I could.

Madison was waiting for me outside.

"Don't you think that store has a dumb name? I mean, what is Victoria's Secret anyway?" Don't ask me why I said it. I just did.

Madison looked at me and laughed. "Masturbation."

I just stopped and looked at her. "Huh?"

"I don't know where the name comes from, but that's Victoria's Secret of success."

"Uh-huh?"

"Sure. I mean, I guess, maybe 70% of men have their first, uh, experience with the Victoria's Secret catalogue. That makes them loyal. Then every Valentine's, birthday, anniversary, whatever, they run down and buy their girlfriend something from there."

I could feel myself getting red, again.

"You though, I think you were more a 'dad's Playboy' kind of guy."

Now I was certain I was red as a beet.

"Madison, please, for the love of God, can we not talk about this here. Or, you know, ever."

Madison laughed at me. "I thought you got over that whole teenage I'm way to embarrassed to talk about it phase after we...you know."

"I did." Suddenly something clicked in my mind. "A year ago today, in fact."

"You've got to be kidding me." Madison checked the date on her watch. "You're right. Oh God, Ephram!" She sounded kind of shocked.

I laughed. "That's what you said then too!"

Madison blushed and tried to hit me, but I dodged out of the way.


	5. Chapter Five

A/N: So I thought, what the hell, loads of reviews and all of them nice so I'll update again. This chapter should make you guys happy. I finished the story a week ago, so I should have the whole thing up soon (if you all keep with the reviews). I don't own any of this, I'm just playing with them for a while.

Chapter Five

**Bright's POV**

It was only a couple of days until Valentine's, and I didn't have a date yet. Not that I wouldn't have one, but time was kind of running out. Not that I cared though, much anyway. Having a relationship is just too much work. I mean look at my stupid sister and Ephram. They were supposed to be so in love, but Amy didn't exactly look happy. In fact, she hadn't been happy since she'd found out that Madison and Mac had gone with Ephram to Denver when Ephram got Amy's Valentine's gift. Honestly, I didn't see the big deal, but Amy did.

I checked my watch and saw it was time to head over to Dr. Brown's house. I had taken over as Delia and Sam's babysitter, since I didn't have much else to do in the afternoons. It was a good excuse to watch a lot of Spongebob anyway. Delia was a good kid, and Sam actually reminded me a lot of myself when I was little.

I managed to get there just before Sam, but Delia was already in the kitchen, bouncing around, totally hyperactive.

"I know a secret, I know a secret," she kept chanting. It was kind of cute at first, but after a couple of minutes it got way annoying.

"So, are you gonna tell me the secret?"

"I can't, it's a secret." She paused for a moment, thinking. "I guess it kind of involves you too. You have to swear not to tell. Not even pinky swear, like grown-up swear."

"I swear I won't tell anyone." I motioned crossing my heart.

"You can't tell, but," she paused dramatically. "Linda's coming back!" Delia started bouncing around again.

"My Aunt Linda? No way, that's so cool."

"I know. I think she and my dad are getting back together. They started talking on the phone again after Ephram moved in with Nonny and Grandpa. Now they spend like hours on the phone every night, and Dad's been all happy again. And last night he said she was coming back for a while. But I think she's going to stay forever. It's so great!"

"What's so great?" asked Sam, walking in the back door.

Delia glared at me. "Just that we're going to make Valentine's cookies today," I quickly said. Delia smirked at me; looking so much like Ephram it was scary. I'm not sure Everwood could handle two teenage Brown kids.

I searched around for the things we needed to make the cookies. Ok, so most 19-year-old guys don't know how to make cookies, but I'd spent the past few months just hanging around, pretty aimless. You find the oddest things fill up your time. Now though, I know what I'm doing. I decided I wanted to teach kindergarten. Not exactly what anyone expected, huh? So I'm babysitting Delia and Sam in the afternoon, I help out at the Elementary School 4 days a week and I'm going to ECC in the fall.

The cookies didn't turn out too bad, despite the fact that Sam refused to use pink frosting, even in honor of Valentine's Day. So we had some pink and some blue. Delia suggested that we go give some to her grandparents, but it was kind of obvious she just wanted to go see Mac. Not that I blamed her, because Mac was possibly the cutest baby I'd ever seen. And the fact that she belonged to my best friend had nothing to do with that.

We knocked on the door, and when Madison opened it, Delia held out the plate of cookies.

"Hey, sweetie. What's up?"

"We made cookies," Sam interrupted.

"Thanks guys. You want to come in?" She smiled.

"Sure," Delia answered, running into the kitchen looking for Mac.

"She's in the den, sweetie," Madison called after her.

"Hey Madison." I still felt kind of awkward around her.

"Your sister's here too you know. She and Ephram are down in his room if you want to go say hi."

"Uh, I don't think so. I have to see Amy at home enough, and honestly she didn't look like she was in a very good mood this morning."

"She didn't look happy when she got here either. I've been hiding in the den with the TV turned up loud so I don't hear her yelling at Ephram," she admitted, looking kind of embarrassed.

Just then, Amy swept up the stairs from the basement and headed out of the front door, slamming it on the way out.

"You want to go talk to him? I can handle Mac, Delia and Sam for a while," I asked.

"You go. I'd probably make things worse."

So I headed downstairs to Ephram's room, and found him sitting on his bed.

"Hey man. Trouble in paradise?"

**Ephram's POV**

Bright looked at me expectantly.

"She broke up with me." There wasn't really much else to say. I couldn't tell her brother that I was glad because it made me feel less guilty.

"Aww, dude, I'm sorry. That bites. Why's she do it?"

That was something I didn't actually want to tell her brother. "Uhh, that's kind of private."

"Man, c'mon. You can tell me. Right now just ignore the fact that Amy and I happen to share genetic material."

If he wanted to know that badly, I wasn't going to stop him. "She broke up with me because I didn't want to sleep with her. Is that what you wanted to know?"

"Dude, aww, man, no. That is something I never wanted to know about my sister. She really did that?"

I just nodded. I didn't exactly want to talk about it.

"But I thought, I mean, Labor Day weekend? Your dad went camping with Delia and Amy stayed at your house. You guys had to. She didn't stop smiling for a week after that."

"We did. God, I really don't want to talk about this with you. It's just after the, after I found out about Mac, I just couldn't."

Bright raised his eyebrows. "You mean like physically couldn't?"

"Augh, no!" I ran my fingers through my hair. "It's like, I don't know, it just freaks me out, ok? Like the idea that I could have another kid. I mean, I'm not ready to risk that. You know?"

"Well, obviously not. I mean isn't Amy on birth control?"

"Yea, but I mean it isn't 100% safe, is it? I know it doesn't make sense, but I just, I don't know. I'm just not ready yet."

"Well, as much as I never wanted to know my sister is some kind of sex maniac, I'm here, you know? I'm not exactly good at the whole sensitive thing, but you know. Anyway, it's totally her loss. I'm sure you're a very attractive guy. I mean, you nailed a college girl. Even I never managed that."


	6. Chapter Six

A/N: Hey, sorry this took so long. I've been at my dad's house, and until today he didn't have internet. So, anyway, to make up for the wait I'm posting two chapters.

Chapter Six

Madison's POV

I'm not usually a big fan of Valentine's Day. I never got one card until I was 16 and even than it was just from a male friend who didn't want me to feel bad. Last year had sucked, because it was right after Ephram told me he loved me and I was too scared to say it back. We spent it together, but it was more than uncomfortable. This year sucked more though. I was single, with a three-month-old daughter. And I was living with my ex-boyfriend who had just been dumped by his girlfriend.

I was actually pretty happy to note that Ephram seemed quite a lot less heartbroken than he had been when we broke up. I know that makes me a total bitch, but I don't really care. I liked Amy, I really did. But recently I'd heard them fighting a lot, (so had the rest of the block though). I wouldn't have minded so much; except for the one time I'd heard Amy say that Ephram spent too much time with Mackenzie. That just made me mad. Plus, I was just getting sick of her high-pitched, squealing, so-fast-all-the-words-ran-together style of arguing. Again, total bitch, right?

Nonny and Grandpa were going out for dinner, so Ephram and I were left together for the evening. We'd managed to avoid each other most of the day, both realizing that this was kind of a weird situation. But after dinner when Mac was finally asleep, we both ended up in the den.

"So, what do you want to do? I guess we could watch TV, or a DVD. I'd suggest Playstation, but I'm pretty sure that's not your thing." Ephram dropped onto the couch beside me.

"DVD, definitely! The only thing that's on TV will be sappy romantic movies. And you're right, Playstation is not my thing." I got up to go inspect the collection of DVD's piled by the television. "OK, right, I'm thinking no romance movies?"

"Right."

"So, action or horror then?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Uhh," I looked through them and pulled out one we'd watched together before. "How about Halloween? That's pretty good."

"Um, no." Ephram looked at the floor.

"Why not? I love that film."

"It's just what I was watching with Amy when..."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Anything that reminds you of Amy is off limits then."

I looked again. "Ohh, what about The Patriot. I'm in the mood for some Heath Ledger and Mel Gibson."

"Ugh, no way. That movie is way too depressing. Everybody dies. Plus, they have two Australians, a Canadian and an English chick, playing members of that one all-American family."

"Ok, fine. Whatever. I guess you're not a fan then." I finally found the perfect DVD and held it up for Ephram to see.

"James Bond? I thought you said no romance?"

"There's no romance in James Bond, just meaningless sex. C'mon."

Ephram rolled his eyes, but I just started the DVD. Then I headed to the kitchen to grab the tub of Ben and Jerry's I'd bought.

I finally settled down on the couch next to Ephram and offered him a spoon so he could share the ice cream. He smiled at me and took it. Between us, we'd finished the entire tub in a half-hour. I tried to pay attention to the movie, but I couldn't. This was the first time that Ephram and I had been completely alone together since I'd gotten out of hospital. There'd always been Mac, or Nonny, or Delia or Amy. Now it was just us.

I gave up trying to watch the movie and just watched Ephram. He looked kind of intense, concentrating on the movie. But he had this smudge of chocolate ice cream next to his mouth that made him look even younger than he really was. I couldn't help staring at the ice cream, and suddenly I realized I just wanted to kiss it away. I was shocked. I was totally over Ephram, but there was still something about him that I found totally attractive.

Thank God, I didn't have time to think about it too much because I heard a cry through the baby monitor that was sitting next to me. I got up and headed downstairs to check on Mackenzie. Her diaper was still clean, and it wasn't time for a feed, but she stopped crying when I picked her up. So I guess she just wanted some attention. I wasn't sorry about it, because she'd gotten me away from Ephram and all the confusing feelings I just wanted to forget. But eventually she fell asleep again, so I laid her in her crib and headed back upstairs.

When I got back into the den, Ephram tore his attention away front the TV. "Is Mac ok?"

I smiled. "She's fine. She fell back asleep, eventually."

"Yeah, I heard you singing to her." Ephram pointed to the baby monitor. I blushed, but Ephram continued. "You have a beautiful voice, you know. You always did."

"No," I smiled. "You're the one with the musical talent. I'm strictly amateur."

"We both have musical talent. Imagine how good Mac's going to be."

I laughed. "She'll either be some kind of prodigy, or she'll be tone deaf."

Ephram laughed, but then he shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?" I asked.

"A little. You?"

"I guess. Here." I grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and covered us. Ephram smiled at me and we went back to watching the movie.

Of course, Ephram had to explain everything that had happened for the last half-hour. I still wasn't paying any attention to the movie. I was watching him talk. The chocolate was gone from his face, but suddenly he just looked irresistibly attractive. I had no idea why this was happening all of a sudden. I was seeing him like I had when we had first gotten together. I saw he was smart, and funny, and wise and way older than his age. He was good looking, but he had no idea. But now I knew him so much better. He was kind, and a good friend. He was an amazing father, and he had been there for me when I needed him.

I couldn't help myself. I pushed myself close to him, and laid my head on his shoulder. He kind of froze for a moment, but then he relaxed. He put his arm around me and we watched the rest of the movie like that.

I guess I must have fallen asleep, because what seemed like moments later, Ephram shook me awake.

"Hey, Madison. The movie's over."

I rubbed at my eyes, trying to wake up a little. "What time is it?" I yawned, more than spoke.

"It's only a little after ten." The way we were sitting, his face was only inches from mine. "You want to watch another one?"

"No." I took a chance and leaned in to kiss him. His lips were soft and after a moment he kissed me back. I can't describe what I was feeling. The kiss was soft, and natural, and it just felt like this was where I was supposed to be. But Ephram broke it off way too soon.

"I can't do this."

Ephram's POV

I couldn't believe what I was saying. This was what I wanted more than anything in the world. But I knew it wasn't for real.

"Madison, we can't. We don't work as a couple. As much as I love," I stopped to correct myself, "as I loved you, we can't. I don't think I could cope if we broke up again and I still had to see you everyday. I have to put Mac first. I don't want her to have parents who can barely look at each other."

I wanted her to tell me I was being stupid. That she loved me and that we could make it work. That she didn't care that it would be difficult and that we'd have to work at it. But she didn't. She just looked kind of resigned.

"I'm sorry. God, I know you're right. I just, I don't know, got caught up in the moment I guess."

"Temporary insanity, huh?"

"Right." She half-smiled. "Look, I'm going to bed, ok? I'm kind of tired. Besides, I'll handle Mac tonight. You watch another movie."

"Madison, you don't have to. I can..."

"It's ok, I want to. Night." She leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.

"Goodnight."

She walked away, and I just sat there. I was really starting to hate Valentine's Day.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Delia's POV

My brother and Madison were acting like complete freaks around each other. Even my dad noticed, and he only sees them for like 5 seconds when he comes to pick me up from Nonny and Grandpa's house, because Ephram still won't speak to Dad. I asked Dad why they don't speak to each other, but he just said it was complicated. Ephram said that it was nothing to do with me.

Madison wouldn't tell me why she and Ephram were acting insane and refusing to look at each other. She just said it was nothing. But c'mon, I'm 12, not an idiot. I was pretty sure that they were both in love with each other but they were convinced the other one didn't feel the same way. They kept looking at each other when the other one was looking the other way. It was actually kind of romantic, like in this movie that I watched at Brittney's house. It was about this girl who was in love with her best friend, but didn't know he was in love with her too. It was a good movie, but it was kind of gross because it was an R and they ended up having sex. Plus there were a lot of curse words in it that were way bad.

But anyway, they'd been acting like this for weeks. It was kind of funny to watch, but not really. Then Ephram remembered that it was almost Madison's birthday. She was going to be 22, which is like 10 years older than me. Ephram decided to throw Madison a party.

"Is this for her birthday, or so you can make up for whatever you did?" I asked.

"You just assume it was me?" Ephram tried to look all offended, but it was kind of hard because he was feeding Mac at the time and he always looks like a mushy dork when he's feeding her. "It's just a birthday party. She hasn't exactly had the best year."

"So, who you gonna invite? Because it's going to suck if you just have your friends there."

Ephram's POV

For once Delia was right. "I was going to call her friend Mindy and get her to organize it. She did it last year, and except for the whole Madison breaking up with me the next day, it was a good party."

Delia just laughed at me. Not that I blamed her, because I was being kind of pathetic. It was just that I loved Madison so much, and then we'd kissed again and it was great. But it was a mistake and now Madison barely looked at me. I just wanted to say sorry.

I called Mindy the next afternoon. I had to steal her number from Madison's cell but I guess that's kind of a tradition for us.

"Hello?" a voice answered.

"Um, hi. Is this Mindy?" I sounded like such a dork.

"Yeah, who is this?"

"It's Ephram Brown, Madison's..."

Mindy interrupted me. "Jailbait! Hey! How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Look, I know it's kind of weird me calling you. It's just that it's Madison's birthday in a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that. I thought about a party again, but I don't know. Wouldn't that be kind of weird?"

"Why?"

"I don't know? Wouldn't it be kind of odd for her, just acting like nothing's changed in the last year. I don't know, what about like an all day thing. Like a lunch for all her friends."

"Like kind of an indoor barbeque?"

"Kind of. Just hanging out, some beers, some food. Then everyone could meet the adorable little girl Maddy never stops talking about."

I couldn't help smiling. "Sounds good."

"I'll call everyone and sort everything. You'll have to get Maddy out of the house again. You live with your Grandparents, right?"

"Yeah. I'll talk to them."

"That would be great, but can I have your home phone number? I guess I'll have to talk to them too at some point."

It actually turned out to be pretty easy to organize everything. Mindy talked to Nonny and then together they took care of everything. It was actually kind of scary.

I was pretty amazed that it managed to stay a secret though. Nonny invited Delia and even she kept her mouth shut. The only thing that almost went wrong was that I almost didn't get her back in time for the party. I took her shopping at the mall, to buy some new clothes for Mac and Madison didn't want to leave.

Madison's POV

I was kind of pissed that Ephram wanted to leave the mall at 11. We'd only been there for three hours and as the mall is an hour away it kind of sucked. Mac was growing so fast now that we ended up buying her new clothes about every month. I got over being pissed when I got home though.

I couldn't believe that they'd managed to throw surprise parties for me two years in a row. I guess Mindy and Ephram make a pretty good team. It was so great to see all my friends again. I hadn't seen most of them since I left Everwood when I found out I was pregnant. The only one I'd seen recently was Mindy, who had visited me a couple of times in the hospital. None of them had met Mac.

They all crowded around Mackenzie and I don't think she'd ever had that much attention in her 4 month long life. Ephram handed me a drink and went back into the kitchen, away from all my friends. I followed him.

"Thank you Ephram." I kissed him on the cheek. I wanted to do so much more, but I stopped myself.

He smiled. "Don't thank me. This was all Mindy and Nonny."

"Sure. Mindy just happened to phone up your grandmother out of the blue." I paused. "I'm sure you had more to do with this than you'll admit, so thank you anyway."

"Well, whatever. But hey, this is more fun for me than your birthday last year."

"That sucked for me too. But hey, it's a year later. We're friends now and we're doing ok as parents." I didn't add that I was more in love with him now than I had been a year ago.

"We're great parents. Well, most of the time anyway. So get back in there and show off our girl to your friends." Our girl. I hadn't heard him say that before, but I like it.

"You have to come too. C'mon."

"Are you kidding? Your friends scare the crap out of me. Besides, Mindy insists on still calling me Jailbait. Do you want to explain to Delia what felonies you committed to give me that nickname?"

I just rolled my eyes and left him in the kitchen.


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Linda's POV

I wasn't sure exactly how I ended up agreeing to come back. It wasn't what I planned at all. I was supposed to go back to Africa with Doctors Without Borders. That didn't happen. The clinic I was supposed to join burned down and it would take months to rebuild it. Then they asked me to go to Sudan, but I got the flu and it took me a couple of months to recover. So I ended up with a desk job in the US Doctors Without Borders office in Washington.

That wasn't my dream job or anything bit it was all going fine until Andy called me. I guess my mother must have given him my number, because he called me out of the blue one day and said he needed to talk. We spent hours on the phone talking about Ephram, and the baby, and how Andy knew he'd made a huge mistake. Then I made a huge mistake and I called him back a few days later to see how things were going and it all spiraled from there. Before I knew it I was spending hours on the phone every night with Andy, and then somehow I was telling him I loved him and I was moving back to Everwood to be with him.

Delia and Andy came to meet me at the airport in Denver. I'd never seen such a huge smile on anyone's face as I saw then on Andy's face. He didn't say anything, he just kissed me and at that moment, I knew that even though this was not what I had planned, this was right.

"Eww, Dad, Linda, c'mon. Please can you not do that in front of me? It's just gross." Delia interrupted us. I just laughed.

"Delia," Andy warned. "We talked about this. Sorry Linda."

"Daaaaad." I'd never heard the word with eight syllables before, well maybe when Amy was little. "It's not like it's just Linda. It was gross when you did that with Mom too."

Andy tried to look stern, but I could tell he was fighting a smile. It was so good to be home, I realized.

It took a few days to get settled in. It was odd moving in with Andy. I hadn't ever lived with anyone and now I had a ready made family, with a daughter, a son and even a granddaughter. That part was kind of scary. But I didn't meet her for a few days. I don't know if Ephram even knew I was back and had moved in with his father. I didn't want to have that conversation, so I just ignored it.

It was even a few days before I went to see Harold and Rose. I'd called them and they knew I was moving back. Apparently Bright had already known, thanks to Delia. I went to dinner with them a few days later. Amy and Bright were there, and even Mother and Irv managed to come. It was kind of funny to eat Rose's cooking again after months of living on vegetarian take-out from the Greek deli near my apartment in DC. Bright was talking all evening about his new job helping out at the elementary school. I wasn't that surprised to hear what he wanted to do, as I'd always kind of seen him as an overgrown five year old. Amy was quiet though. Andy had told me that she and Ephram had broken up, but I hadn't ever been close to her so I didn't see it as my place to ask her what was wrong.

It was odd though, after dinner Amy asked me to come talk to her. I had no idea why until I got to her room. She closed the door and sat down on the bed.

"Aunt Linda?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"Did you ever do something that you thought was right, but turned out to be a total mistake?"

"Of course, honey. Everyone does. It's part of being human."

"So how do you fix it?"

Amy sounded very small. Not like the teenager I had left the previous summer, but more like the little girl I had known.

"I don't know. I guess you just have to realize you were wrong and then try and make things right." It was so odd. It felt more like I was talking to Delia than Amy, who was almost 18. "Are you going to tell me what this is really about?" I could guess, but I though she needed to say it out loud.

"I broke up with Ephram." Amy dissolved into tears. I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I don't exactly have maternal instinct, but I just wrapped my arm around my niece, pulled up a box of Kleenex and let her cry for a while.

After a few minutes her tears slowed down a little and she could talk again.

"I just feel so awful. I never wanted to break up with him, I just got so mad with him and I didn't mean it and now I don't know what to do." All her words ran together, and I'm surprised she didn't run out of air. "

"What made you so mad? Was it really that bad?"

"I can't tell you. It's like, I don't know, too personal I guess."

"Amy sweetie. Come on. You know you can tell me anything and I won't tell your Mom and Dad, right?"

"I was jealous, ok? I was jealous of that stupid baby!" Amy burst out and then started to cry again. "It's not fair. It was all perfect between us and then that baby was born," she sobbed. "Then he never had any time for me any more and I never saw him without the kid or without his ex-girlfriend there. I know it's selfish and I know it's mean but I can't help it. I needed him there for me and he never was any more."

I tried to be sympathetic to Amy, but there was something that was stopping me. Maybe it was my long absent maternal instinct.

"Oh sweetie. I know this can't have been easy for you at all. It must have been a weird change, but Ephram's a parent now. That has to come first."

"I didn't want to come first, I just wanted to have him to myself once in a while." Amy grabbed a Kleenex and wiped her eyes. "I know he has responsibilities to Mackenzie." I noticed that this was the first time Amy had used her name. "I just wish that he could forget about them sometimes, even for just a couple of hours."

"Amy honey. That's the point. You can't ever forget about your children. I know I don't have any, but I've talked to Andy about this a lot recently. They're always there, no matter what. Believe me, I know how hard that is to understand. There were times when I wished that Andy didn't have children. It made everything so much more complicated, and in the end it was why we broke up. Andy had to put his responsibility to his children before his responsibility to me."

"But you guys are back together. That means he put you before his kids."

"No sweetie. He didn't. I'm only back because Delia agreed to it. When Andy first asked me, I said no because of the children, but then Andy had a long talk with Delia. He explained to her about HIV and AIDS. He gave her some books to read and he even explained that I was probably going to die from this." The thought of how hard that conversation must have been brought a couple of tears to my eyes, but I wiped them away before Amy could see.

"I could never have come back if Delia said no, and I wouldn't have wanted to. It took me a long time to see how much a part of him his children are, but they are. And his daughter is part of Ephram. I know it's hard, but it gets easier, I promise.

"Is that what the argument was about?"

"Not really." Amy sounded quiet and childlike again.

"What did you fight about?"

"I can't." Tears started to roll down Amy's cheeks again.

"Amy, I can't help you figure this out if you don't tell me."

"He didn't want me anymore." Amy broke down again. I was worried that we were going to run out of Kleenex at this rate. "After Mackenzie was born, he didn't want to..." Amy paused, but I got the picture.

"Sweetie. I know this is a lot more complicated than anything you signed up for. But maybe this is a good thing. Dating someone with children, especially a baby is really complicated. I wouldn't have wanted to do it at your age. You're probably just not ready for it."

Amy didn't answer me, she just sat and cried. I wanted to feel sorry for her, but I felt some kind of loyalty to the boy that was going to be my stepson. It felt odd to say that even to myself, because I'd only said yes the night before. I was going to be a wife and a substitute mother. Not what I expected, but it was a good thing.


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Ephram's POV

I couldn't believe that my dad was getting married again, especially not to Linda. It was odd to see them around Everwood together. They acted like a couple of teenagers, except that unlike this teenager, they were with the person they loved. Nonny and Grandpa were actually pretty positive about the whole thing. I guess it must have been tough for them, because it meant Dad had finally moved on from Mom. But they seemed to like Linda and I started to see Linda over here more and more, just sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee with Nonny.

I don't know who it was, but someone came up with the bright idea of a ski trip over Spring Break to 'promote family unity' as Grandpa put it. It was a pretty dumb idea anyway. The only good thing was that Madison and Mac were coming too. It's not like there aren't plenty of places to ski near here, but Dad booked a week at the Snowbird resort neat Salt Lake City. Which not only meant I had to survive a week with dad, but I had to survive an eight hour drive with Mac. I was not looking forward to it. But in the end the last week of March arrived, and with it, spring break.

Madison had used the insurance money from her accident, plus the compensation from the guy who had hit her, to buy a mini-SUV. It was a pretty cool car, with a great stereo system and a DVD player in the back seat. Madison claimed that she'd got it because it was safe to drive with Mac in. And after she was allowed to drive again at the end of February, I think she drove in it every day. But for once, she let me take the first part of the drive towards Utah.

We left pretty early in the morning and by lunch I had totally had enough of driving. Madison had insisted that because it was here car, she got to choose the music. I wanted to kill myself after 4 hours of Michelle Branch and Sheryl Crowe, but at least it was better than being stuck in the car with Delia and her Britney Spears.

Madison switched from shotgun to sitting in the back after we stopped for lunch, because Mac was starting to get kind of fussy. They both fell asleep soon after that, and I turned off the music and just drove. It gave me some time to think. It had been over a month since the Valentine's Day disaster, and we were finally back where we had been. We were friends, we were parents and I wanted so much more but I was prepared to hide it. I had decided to just take what was on offer, because I figured having Madison as a friend was better than not having her at all.

When we finally got to the resort, I figured out why my dad wanted to come here. It was beautiful, with a lot of wooden buildings and as it had just gotten dark when we arrived, I could see a lot of twinkling lights through the trees. We'd had to drive up a canyon to get there and in the dark, when it had just started to snow a little, it was kind of freaky, but it was worth it. I changed my mind about this being a good vacation when Linda explained the sleeping arrangements though. Dad and Linda had one room, Nonny, Grandpa and Delia were sharing a suite with two bedrooms, which left Madison and I in the final room with Mac. At first this didn't sound too bad, but when we arrived at the room I saw there was only one bed. This was going to be a week of torture.

Madison's POV

I didn't sleep at all that first night. It was absolute hell sleeping in a bed with Ephram. I don't know who had arranged the rooms, but I think that someone somewhere was playing a cruel joke on me. All I wanted to do was curl up around him, like the one time he had slept over at my house when we were together. I couldn't though.

Things just got worse though; I woke up with a slight cold. It wouldn't have been a big deal for most people, but it meant I couldn't ski. I was supposed to be leaving Mac with a babysitter Dr. Brown had hired but as I was stuck in the lodge I just kept her with me. I headed out and found a coffee shop with some seats and a view of the slopes. It was in a good spot, so I just set up cam there. I bought a hot coco and pulled out the book I had brought with me to read.

The morning went pretty fast. Mac was really good, and I made friends with one of the assistants who agreed to watch my stuff while I went to change Mac's diaper. So I just sat there, drank lots of coco and coffee and read my book. Mac fell back asleep for a while, which was a good thing because I really didn't feel well. Even though I was just sitting there doing nothing, I felt kind of short of breath, and my heart was beating really fast. I knew that even a cold could cause me problems after the heart surgery and infection, but it was a real pain in the ass.

At lunch, Ephram called me to find out where I was and he joined me for lunch. The coffee bar had a few sandwiches, and Ephram bought a couple of those to share. I kept kind of quiet so he talked about the snowboarding lesson he had taken. He sounded like he was having a lot of fun, but at two he had to go because he'd promised Delia he'd go ski with her.

Ephram's POV

I could tell something was wrong with Madison. She was really quiet when we had lunch, which for her was really unusual. She didn't eat much either, even though I'd got her a chicken salad sandwich and a rice krispie treat, both of which I knew she loved. I wished I could have stayed with her for the afternoon, but I'd promised Delia I'd ski with her and I couldn't break that promise.

I'd finally had enough at about five and thank God so had Delia. We'd taken the cable car right to the top of the mountain and skied all the way down. It had felt kind of odd to be back on skis after I'd spent the morning trying snowboarding. I made the excuse to myself that this was the reason why Delia had dusted my ass on the slopes. Of course, it was really because she was way better than me, but no big brother ever wants to admit that.

The whole family had dinner together, even Mac, who sat in my arms and gurgled at all the attention she was getting. It was almost eight when we were done, so Madison agreed to go put Mac to bed and then stay and look after her. I felt kind of bad about leaving her, but she insisted and Delia asked me to come see a movie with her. I knew I hadn't been much of a big brother since Mackenzie was born so I agreed to go. When I found out I was going to be stuck watching the Lizzie McGuire Movie I wished I'd said no.

I got back to the room about eleven, but Madison was fast asleep already. I headed into the bathroom to change into my pajamas and then I slipped into bed beside her. I resisted the temptation to pull her into my arms and wrap myself around her and I fell asleep quickly.

I don't know what it was that woke me up. Mac was still fast asleep and when I checked the clock it was only 4.30 and so it was still really dark and silent. It was so quiet that I could hear every breath Madison took beside me. Something was bothering me though. Instead of the deep even breathing I remembered from when I'd spent the night with Madison before, it sounded like every breath was hard work. That wasn't right. Suddenly I went from half-asleep to wide-awake.

I switched on the lamp next to the bed, and leaned over to look at Madison. What I saw almost gave me a heart attack. She was pale, way too pale, and her lips had kind of a purple/blue tint, like she was really cold, but the room was warm.

I shook her. "Madison, Madison. Come on, Maddy wake up!" I was starting to panic now. I shook her again, but there was no response.

Her breathing sounded more and more difficult, and even though I kept shaking her she still wouldn't wake up. "Madison, come on. Wake up! I know you can hear me."

I didn't know what to do. There was nothing I could do. I grabbed the phone from the table by her side of the bad. Still shaking her and trying to wake her, I dialed 911. I got through to the resort's paramedic station.

"Please help. It's my girlfriend." By this time I didn't exactly care about accuracy. "She's not waking up! Her lips are kind of blue and she's not breathing properly."

"Hey, ok. You have to keep calm," came a voice from the other end of the phone. "Has she taken anything, or has she drunk any alcohol tonight?"

"What?" I didn't know what was going on. "Oh, no! She has a cold, but she had heart surgery about five months ago. She went to bed early. Come on, please help."

"Ok, I'm sending someone right now. What's your room number?"

"I'm in 274." I don't know how I remembered that.

"Ok, they're on their way. They should be there in a couple of minutes. I want you to open your hotel room door and just wait. Keep trying to wake her up though."

The voice on the other end disappeared, but I did what she said. I rushed to the other side of the room and opened the door. But when I got back, Madison had stopped breathing completely. I don't exactly remember what happened then, it was all kind of a blur. I remember trying to start artificial respiration, like I'd learned in junior high. I don't know if it was doing anything though, I don't even know if I was doing it right. All I could think was that this time I was going to loose her for good and she didn't know how I really felt about her.

I don't know how long it was before the paramedics arrived. It felt like hours, but it was probably just a few minutes. They swept in the door and took over from me.

"I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the way sir." "I'm bagging her, and setting up the monitor." "Hey, what's her name?"

I heard myself answer them, but I don't remember speaking.

"Madison, Madison, can you hear me?" "She's unresponsive." "Pulse-ox 91, that's not good. Pulse, thready and weak. We have to get her to the ER, now." "I've lost her pulse."

I rushed forward when I heard this. I didn't even think, I just reacted.

"Oh, God. Madison, you have to wake up. Come on, please." I could feel the tears running down my cheeks, and I could hear my voice cracking. "Please Madison, I need you. Mac needs you. Oh, come on, please wake up. Please don't die, I love you, please don't die."

"Sir, you have to get out of the way for us to help her." One of the paramedics pushed me out of the way, not roughly, but firmly. They put Madison on a gurney, and rushed out of the room. I just collapsed on the floor, in shock. I could hear the paramedics' voices floating down the hall.

"Man, it's so sad when they're so young." "Did you see the baby in the corner?" "Yeah, God, she's so little she's not even going to remember her mom."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: You didn't think I was actually going to kill her did you? Come on. I'm far too romantic to let that happen. Anyway, this is the final chapter of the story. I have to say thanks to everyone that's reviewed the story. I can't believe how nice everyone has been.

I don't own it. You know it, I know it.

Chapter Ten

Madison's POV

I woke up in the middle of the night. Ephram was thrashing about in the bed next to me and mumbling. I couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but he just seemed to be repeating the same thing over and over. Suddenly he got louder, and I could hear what he was saying.

"Madison! No, come on. Please don't die. I love you. Madison!"

I didn't know what to think, but I tried to shake him awake. He was starting to yell so loud I was afraid he'd wake Mac.

His eyes slowly opened, and I leaned over to look at him.

"Hey, Ephram," I said gently. "I think you had a nightmare."

I suddenly found myself being pounced on and drawn into Ephram's arms. He hugged me so tightly that I could hardly breathe, but I didn't want him to let go. He buried his face into my neck, and I could feel his tears.

"Hey, Ephram, calm down. It was just a dream."

"Oh, God, you don't understand. You died, and I couldn't help you, and you never knew how I felt." He sounded panicked. I guess the fear he's felt in his nightmare was still too fresh.

"I'm right here. I'm fine." I didn't know what to say.

Ephram loosened his grip on me, and looked me in the face. I could see his eyes were slightly pink. Partly from being awake like this in the middle of the night, but partly from the tears that were still falling on his cheeks.

"You stopped breathing and I couldn't make you start again. I called an ambulance but you died anyway."

"It was just a nightmare. Everyone gets them. I got one a couple of weeks ago and I didn't get back to sleep that whole night. It's not real, I'm right here."

"I know it's not real, believe me. It's just anything can happen. You don't always get to say goodbye or all those things you wanted to say. I have to tell you." Ephram paused and looked me right in the eyes. "I love you. I'm in love with you, and I always have been. I know you don't feel the same, but I have to tell you. The no matter what happens, you know. It's like with my mom. Even though I never got to say goodbye, I told her that morning that I loved her. And that helped. That's why you have to know. It's not because I want anything from you or anything..." Ephram trailed off. He looked at me, kind of expectantly.

I didn't know what to feel, I didn't know what to do. I was torn between shocked and happy and heartbroken for what he's been through, even if it was just a dream. So I did the only thing I could do. I kissed him.

He kissed me back, and it was hard and passionate. I needed him to know how much I loved him and he needed to prove to himself that I was really there. It was right, and we both knew it. After a moment, we broke the kiss but we lay back down on the bed and just looked at each other.

"I love you too," I whispered to him.

I don't know how long we lay there for, but our peace was interrupted by a cry from Mackenzie.

Ephram got up from my arms, and took care of our daughter. He changed her diaper quickly and then stood there, watching her as she drifted back into sleep. He turned back to look at me, and saw me watching him. He suddenly looked shy.

"Hey, come here," I whispered, and motioned for him to join me in bed.

He got in and wrapped his arms around me. I lay my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was perfect, but as happy as I was, I couldn't help the doubts in my mind.

"We might not work, you know?" I murmured.

"We will." He sounded so sure.

"How can you know that?"

He kissed the top of my head. "Because if it hurt that much to loose you in a dream, I'm going to make damn sure it never happens in real life."

I smiled and relaxed. I let myself be lulled back to sleep by the sound of his breathing and his heartbeat. This was where I belonged.

The End

Another A/N: I'm working on another new Everwood story at the moment, but it might be a while before it's done. I just thought I'd give you guys a little teaser.

_"Madison?" a voice cam from behind me. I knew that voice. It was way too familiar, but it was impossible. Why would he be at the Grammys? I turned around._

_"Ephram?" There he was. My ex-boyfriend. Not just an ex-boyfriend, but 'the' ex-boyfriend. The one I compared all the others to, the one I'd never really let myself get over. And he was standing right in front of me. I think my face must have been frozen in a mix between shock and horror._


End file.
